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My mower runs fine and cuts fine, then just dies. No sputter or anything. When it dies I can start it back up and will eventually die and it may not. Sometimes it happens after 10 mins and sometimes it waits 30 mins. Sometimes i cut my whole yard and it never dies. What gives? Any help is greatly appreciated!

If you have a briggs engine with the walbro carb, I would bet that the little tip of the fuel solenoid is coming off and shutting off the fuel. When you turn the key off after it dies, it resets the tip on the end of the plunger allowing the engine to start until it comes off again.

We need make and model No's it would help us.

Its a 21hp craftsman. Not sure the model number but it has the b&s engine. I checked the connections and everything looked fine and was tight making a good connection at the fuel solenoid. I also have another problem. I rebuilt the carb going on someone elses advise that this was causing it to die. I redone it with new parts and it keeps flooding the carb. I have tried both old and new needle valve and the float is fine, but still floods. Is there a such thing as the fuel solenoid sticking open? Sorry such a long post but i been at this a couple weeks and im trying to not let this whip me and my grass needs it. Lol

Hotrod stang said:

Its a 21hp craftsman. Not sure the model number but it has the b&s engine. I checked the connections and everything looked fine and was tight making a good connection at the fuel solenoid. I also have another problem. I rebuilt the carb going on someone elses advise that this was causing it to die. I redone it with new parts and it keeps flooding the carb. I have tried both old and new needle valve and the float is fine, but still floods. Is there a such thing as the fuel solenoid sticking open? Sorry such a long post but i been at this a couple weeks and im trying to not let this whip me and my grass needs it. Lol

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Did you renew the needle valve seat..?
You say could it be fuel solenoid.......yes if its got one, we can't tell you that until we have the Model Number, look for it on the engine it will be there.

I will get the model number when i get home from work. Fuel solenoid-is that not the piece that screws into the bottom of the fuel bowl? It has a connector that plugs into it also. No i did not do anything with the needle valve seat.

Hotrod stang said:

I will get the model number when i get home from work. Fuel solenoid-is that not the piece that screws into the bottom of the fuel bowl? It has a connector that plugs into it also. No i did not do anything with the needle valve seat.

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Well if it has one (solenoid) is it working...?
And if the needle valve not sitting right it will let fuel into the carb, and when that is full it go's into the engine....!
Put you're finger on the solenoid and turn on ignition switch, you should be able to feel a click or hear it.

I will check the solenoid. Yeah i knew with it flooding that it probably filled the crankcase. I drained it last night and put fresh oil in and cleaned the plug real good.

Do not put too much fuel in tank until you have work out what is wrong with carb, you will end up doing oil again. if so pull fuel out before you leave overnight.

Yeah thats what i been doing. Just put enough gas for it to try and crank.

Is the fuel solenoid there to cut off the fuel or?

Hotrod stang said:

Is the fuel solenoid there to cut off the fuel or?

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Hi guys, bit of a late entry I know.

I had a problem with a 15 mth old 22HP Briggs & Stratton engine in a McCulloch lawn tractor that kept cutting out after a short while. After weeks of pulling my hair out and asking various experts I was just staring hopelessly at it and noticed that a black rubber 'O' ring was sitting in the bottom of the petrol tank. I hooked it out and checked to see where it should be, noticing that there was an place for it inside the petrol cap. I also noticed that there where 2 little flutes inside the seal and they are designed to let air into the tank while fuel is being sucked out. You try sucking a the contents out of a bottle of Pepsi without letting any air into the bottle, you'll get mighty thirsty. I fitted the rubber seal back into the petrol cap, correct way round.
Another thing I remember was that each time I opened the petrol cap there was a little hiss as air was drawn into the petrol tank. It all made perfect sense now, the mower was being starved of fuel, even though the tank was full up, air could not replace the fuel being drawn into the engine so created a vacuum effect thus the engine would cut out after a while, the time various depending on the air gap you had left in the tank. So simple but not obvious enough.
Never had the problem since.

Crusty; good suggestion. I might try this as well on my mower since it is having a similar problem.
I wanted to throw in my two cents worth on another potential solution to the dying motor (and maybe this is a too simple solution but it helped me): be sure to clean or blow off all the contacts that kill the engine for safety reasons; such as the seat contacts, blade engage, brake, emergency brake, etc. I found that my motor would not crank but cleaned all points and started up.

I've been working on a 17.5 Kohler single cylinder riding mower. This thing will let gasoline fill up the carburetor bowl, then keep on until you can see a puddle of gas in the air intake / filter area. Sometimes it gets down into the cylinder area, but not every time. I drained it out of the bowl and had almost a small teacup full. I checked the needle and float by hand and it seemed to be working fine. You can then start the mower and it will mow for 30 minutes and not a bit of trouble. Let it sit over night and it will flood out again. It has the brass type needle seat. I ordered a new needle for it even though the old one seems to be working. Sprayed out the needle and seat area with carburetor cleaner, but still does the same thing. I told the customer to get a fuel shut off valve for it and that would stop the problem if the new needle didn't help. People have used them for years with a leaky float and needle problem mower. That might solve your problem with a quick, easy fix!